


They're Just Always There

by tjovalboy



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Frozen Yogurt, M/M, Mentions of DJ Fruity Mixitup, TJ's perspective, Wholesome, might have seen this already, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 00:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tjovalboy/pseuds/tjovalboy
Summary: Only two weeks into their relationship, TJ and Cyrus are optimistic about the summer and what lies ahead. They indulge in little things, like frozen yogurt dates where they made designs for the other to enjoy and movie dates, when an unexpected visitor makes TJ question his own attitudes about his future as a high school athlete.





	They're Just Always There

**Author's Note:**

> You may have already read the first half of this fic (titled "It'll Be Us") because I posted it as part 1 of a two part series. While writing the second part, I decided it would be a lot better put together so here it is. Also fun fact but this was for Tyrus Week "First Kiss" and yes that is how long this took.

Cyrus confidently slid into the leather diner seat facing TJ and shoved his frozen yogurt cup under his nose. 

“I present to you: ‘The Crazy Side of Shadyside.’”

Inside, a red creamy arch bordered the round edge of the cup, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple arches inside in the classic Cyrus Goodman pride fashion. Realizing its connection to his own froyo creation, TJ stifled a laugh. 

“What? Let me see!” 

TJ smirked handing Cyrus his cup. “Mine’s called, ‘DJ Fruity’.” 

With a peek inside, Cyrus sat back and dramatically clutched a hand to his chest. “I can’t believe we coordinated again!”

The athlete’s design was simple (plain white tart with an assortment of strawberry, blueberry, and kiwi toppings) but Cyrus got the reference. When it came to food, clothing, and even their general mannerisms, they matched more than your average middle school boys should. 

“And with gay subtext this time, too,” added TJ. 

TJ dug into his sweatshirt pocket and handed his boyfriend a stainless steel spoon to enjoy “DJ Fruity,” while he excitedly dug into the pride flag design Cyrus had tailored for him that week. He couldn’t see himself eating frozen yogurt any other way again.

“You shouldn’t eat this kind of thing while wearing that.” Cyrus gestured at TJ’s Jefferson Middle School Basketball sweatshirt between bites. “Even though you’re technically not a middle schooler anymore, the ex-captain of the basketball team shouldn’t be getting his team sweatshirt dirty.”

TJ rolled his eyes playfully, but still stopped to take his sweatshirt off and set it on the seat next to him. In only their second week of dating, he loved that Cyrus’s helpful instinct were amplified around him, and most of the time, he was right. 

Their frozen yogurt game wasn’t technically an original idea. It came to them the day TJ asked Cyrus to be his boyfriend at Bex and Bowie’s wedding when they were helping set up in Andi’s grandparents’ backyard. During one of their breaks, Cyrus loosely mentioned wanted to show TJ the really hard piece of licorice in ANdi SHack, and Andi jumped at the opportunity to let him give TJ a tour. Her judgement was right in that TJ was really impressed by the range of craft supplies she had organized throughout the room, and she even suggested they make something for each other. As evening neared and TJ and Cyrus had spent time alone there for a while, TJ built up the courage to ask Cyrus with the string lights grazing their heads and Andi and Buffy very obviously watching through the window. 

They didn’t take Andi’s suggestion to make anything that night, but it gave Cyrus the idea for their frozen yogurt swap game at Lemon Berry Yogurt near the Spoon. He thought it would be a fun summer activity before TJ went to high school.

And now, they sat across from each other on the first day of their game eating the yogurt they created for each other. Two weeks had passed since the wedding and TJ was optimistic about where his first relationship was going to go. After a few moments of the same words buzzing around his head, he decided to ask Cyrus the question.

“So, Underdog. You got any plans after this?”

Cyrus picked out a blueberry from the top of his tart and popped it into his mouth. “Nope. I am all free for whatever you’re about to say next.” TJ raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Wait, no. Scratch that. Just tell me what it is first.”

“Ah, don’t worry,” He chuckled and fought a blush. “I was just thinking we could watch a movie at my house.” He took a scoop of yogurt in an attempt casually cover up his nerves inside. He and Cyrus hung out everywhere together even before they made it official, but there was something classic about a couple on a couch movie date. It’s the kind of thing that just always seemed to happen and it’s something he had imagined with he and Cyrus for a while. 

Cyrus stayed staring down into his dessert for a few moments before peering up at him with a genuine smile. “Sounds good, Teej.”

He seemed slightly off about the request, but shifted back to his normal demeanor with his response. TJ couldn’t wait. There were so many couples at Jefferson that seemed fake to him, spending their parents’ money on lavish things they had seen in movies. But with Cyrus, none of what anyone else said about them mattered. They made up food games and did things their own way, and he didn’t think anything would come in between that to make him forget. 

Suddenly, a brown haired girl shuffling past their booth struck Cyrus’s attention.

“Iris!”

She spun around at the sound of her name, which weirdly sounded a lot like Cyrus’s. “Cyrus!” she exclaimed back. 

“The names still sound so satisfying one after the other,” Cyrus remarked as she perched herself at the edge of the boys’ table.

“Yep.” TJ noticed she was avoiding his gaze. “And as always, the observation came from the unique, really just weird, but we’re gonna call it “unique,” mind of Cyrus Goodman.”

The three of them cracked up at the truth of her statement. Hearing TJ’s laugh reminded Cyrus there was something he still needed to do. 

“Oh, TJ, this is my friend, Iris.” She shifted uncomfortably at the mention of her name. ”And Iris, my boyfriend, TJ.”

TJ jumped out of the booth so he could stand and extended a hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you. From what Cyrus told me, you seem really cool.” She looked at him for the first time as she returned the shake. “You’re welcome to sit of you want,” he said, gesturing to his own seat. 

To TJ’s satisfaction, she took the seat he offered. Months ago, Cyrus told him about the high school girl he dated, named Iris, who he broke up with when he realized he was gay. Now, she seemed nervous around the new boyfriend as if she didn’t think she was welcome so he was being as friendly as possible to let her know that it wasn’t the case. 

TJ slid in next to Cyrus across from his original seat and felt him squeeze his hand under the table. Facing them, Iris took bites from her full cup of froyo, already looking more relaxed.

“This is probably gonna sound weird.” She spoke after a couple of moments of silence. “But, sometimes, I like to come here after really sucky days at school and just go at my yogurt like it’s one of my canvasses.” She laughed lightly. “Then, when I’m done, I give it a stupid nickname and I-I don’t know-I just feel a little better. ”

TJ gaped at her and saw that Cyrus shared his expression. This girl they coincidentally ran into today turned out to be just like them. Not gay (but maybe, TJ thought), but appreciating the smaller aspects of life as a way of being themselves.

Iris chuckled nervously at them. “What is it?” 

Cyrus tilted cup forward so she could see the fruit arrangement inside. “‘DJ Fruity’, courtesy of TJ Kippen,” he announced.

TJ looked down in playful embarrassment. “And ‘The Crazy Side of Shadyside’ a la Underdog,” he finished, showing his cup the same way.

She joined them gawking. “Oh my gosh, this is amazing.” She thrusted her rattling cup half full of Skittles under their noses to see. “I named this one ‘Dino Barf’ coming over here,” she exclaimed with a giggle.

“Taste the rainbow?” TJ raised an eyebrow and looked at his boyfriend.

“Gay subtext! It even coordinates!” Cyrus exclaimed.

Iris laughed. “Just promise you guys’ll show me DJ Fruity’s music someday ‘cause I’m really dying to know what they’re about.”

Oh boy, she had no idea, thought TJ.

She sighed to herself and paused. “This is such a nice break from being around the people at school.”

TJ noticed Iris often mentioned school in bad ways, whether it was the kind of day she had or the people there. As a soon to be high school freshman, this worried him and he wanted to know more. 

“So, what’s the deal high school kids?” he asked.

This prompted a dry chuckle. “A lot of them are just--I don’t know...” She motioned in front of her. “...fake.”

TJ raised his eyebrows and Cyrus pinched an imaginary tea cup handle and took a “sip,” inviting her to continue.

“Like, I’m an artist, right? And maybe that’s it; that I’m really just complaining over nothing because I need originality and realness around me to feel good about my life, but I’m just sick and tired of everyone thinking they’re more mature because they’re going from meaningless relationship to meaningless relationship.”

“Yeah, I get that.” chimed Cyrus.

“Wow, I guess it really doesn’t get better after middle school,” TJ complained. 

Iris took the last bite of her dessert and pushed the empty cup to the side. “Yeah, it doesn’t!” She shook her head, still fuming. “But the absolute worst of them all...are the jocks.”

The weight of the room shifted.

“Um, Ir-”

TJ darted a look at the boy sitting next to him, stopping him mid sentence. They were going to act cool about this. “What about them?” he inquired in his best casual voice. 

Inside, TJ was hurt. This wasn’t the answer he was expecting, but he pushed the issue because he wanted to know everything she knew about the group of kids he was getting into. He loved basketball and was ecstatic that he was guaranteed a spot on the Junior Varsity team as a freshman, but he hated the idea of becoming one of the inauthentic people he always looked down on.

Cyrus looked at him with a concerned expression, but kept quiet about who TJ was. 

“Well, it’s a small school, so Amber keeps me up with all the drama,” she prefaced to them. “The drama that usually happens is that the jock is a straight up jerk to whoever they’re with, and when they break up, they move on crazy quickly.” 

That didn’t sound good at all, but TJ was determined to hold his ground.

“That isn’t everyone though, is it?” he argued.

Iris eyed him suspiciously. “Like I said, it’s a small school, so, pretty much.” she said hesitantly. “They end up spending so much time with each other, between locker room talk and parties, that the jerk influence just spreads.” 

Was that who he was going to turn into next year? His face reddened at the unsettling thought.

“But a lot of them change, right?” piped Cyrus, noticing TJ’s growing discomfort.

“Well, yeah. They’re still human you know,” she stated obviously and smiled. TJ felt a little relief with this. “But the thing is that I haven’t seen it happen very much, and neither have a lot of people I know.” She furrowed her brows. “So, I think it’s safe to say that Grant High School athletes--past, present and future--are fake and just plain mean, especially with the people they decide to get into relationships with.”

TJ couldn’t believe it. There was apparently no good way to look at this and he needed to take his aggressions out on someone. He scowled at Iris. “No wonder you don’t have any friends. You just think you know everything about athletes, but you don’t!” he snapped, already pushing himself out of the booth.

“Excuse me?” Iris retorted angrily as he strode away toward the door. 

Cyrus looked extremely worried. He fumbled with both of their empty frozen yogurt cups as he exited the booth in a hurry to catch up with him. “I’m sorry, Iris. We’ll talk soon, maybe?” he said back to her, tripping over his shoes and following TJ outside.

Now alone, Iris frantically wondered what she had done to cause this outburst. She felt terrible, especially since it seemed like the three of them were getting along well as a group. Amidst her thought, a light blue, rumpled sweatshirt on the seat next to her caught her eye. She held it up, her jaw dropping as she read the white logo printed across the front. 

\----

 

In TJ’s parents’ living room, Cyrus pressing remote buttons sounded echoes in the quiet space. All the lights remained on, and a bowl of popcorn sat untouched between the boys while Cyrus sifted through Netflix titles for a movie. 

As much as TJ wanted to enjoy himself, he couldn’t. The athlete slumped against one of the couch armrests and stared at the television screen disinterestedly. Cyrus was sifting through movies for them to watch on the other end of the sofa, but TJ’s mind wandered too much for him be engaged.

After he stormed out that afternoon, Cyrus speed-walked behind him and rambled about how wrong Iris was for saying what she did. He appreciated the comfort, but he stayed upset because Cyrus didn’t know the real reason he reacted the way he did. The basketball star moped around the house with his thoughts until it was time for Cyrus to come over and sit with him in his distress. It was clear from the start that their date wasn’t going to turn out the way he planned. 

He thought about Iris and all of the warnings she gave him. It was obvious to him that he wouldn’t just turn into a bad jock because she said so, but what about everything else? What happens when disappointment comes in unexpectedly or something happens that makes him regret his all his decisions? TJ was a much better person than he was a year ago because of a certain someone in his life, and now, the two would be operating on completely different wavelengths with their different schools. 

All of this hadn’t crossed his mind until Iris began her rant, and she was the first person he had to take it out on. 

TJ looked up out of his daze. It had been about fifteen minutes since their date began and he decided he would at least try to stay interested for the sake of turning the mood around. He watched the screen as Cyrus read the “Blackfish” summary in the “Documentary” tab, then proceeded to the next one. He went like this, finding a rhythm and pausing at each film for about two seconds before moving on, until he was back at “Blackfish.” TJ grabbed a handful of popcorn for himself from the cooled bowl and settled into a relaxed movie-watching state. The prospects for the date seemed to be looking up, until he noticed that Cyrus wasn’t even looking at the screen. He was staring blankly at the wall behind the television, deep in thought, as he absentmindedly scrolled through the same category again.

It made sense that Cyrus would be completely aloof if he was, but he was his guest, and he didn’t want to burden him with his mood swings. 

“You can go if you want to, Underdog,” he said meeting younger’s gaze. “I know I’m not the most fun person to be around right now.” 

Cyrus thought about this for a second before faking a gasp. “Not fun? That’s crazy.” 

They both laughed. Maybe fixing his problems would be easier than he thought.

As Cyrus awkwardly pulled up his legs to cross them on the couch seat, TJ noticed that he was wearing a different plaid button-down than the one from that afternoon. It was neatly pressed and he didn’t think he’d seen him wear it before. When Cyrus got comfortable, he looked up at TJ expectantly. “So, you ready to talk about it, basketball guy?” 

Popcorn seemed good right now. The blond boy reached in for a kernel and ate as he talked. “What’s there to talk about?” he asked innocently. 

He could feel Cyrus rolling his eyes at him. His boyfriend’s extra level of sass tonight made sense, given the way TJ had been acting all afternoon. He almost felt guilty for dragging him into this, but he knew lifting each other up was just something the two of them did without thinking about it. He couldn’t just keep him waiting forever. 

“Okay, Iris freaked me out,” he admitted, causing Cyrus to smile a little. “Going to a different school with older people just seems...too different.” he trailed off.

Cyrus didn’t say “Way to be descriptive, Teej”, and he didn’t try to push more information out of him, but instead, he nodded slowly accepting his answer. This is usually how it went down when he came to Cyrus with his problems.

Now, it was Cyrus that broke the comfortable silence. “And the relationship thing?”

Right, the biggest thing. The way Cyrus asked It almost seemed like this had been weighing on him too. “Well, that was what mostly scared me.” He waited to see if Cyrus would react to his admission, but his face didn’t change. “It made wonder if all the stuff I had learned from you would disappear when you weren’t there with me.”

TJ felt a choking feeling that hadn’t appeared while he was repeating that sentence in his head all afternoon. He almost hoped Cyrus wasn’t feeling the same way because then there would be twice the amount of it floating around his house.

His boyfriend sat thinking to himself, leaving TJ with his heart pounding waiting for him to fill the silence.

Finally, Cyrus looked up at him and gave a slight cough. “Well, I think it’s kind of like you helping me get the muffin,” he said with a shrug. “And it’s also like the swings, Bex’s wedding, and our frozen yogurt game.”

TJ stared at him blankly, but Cyrus didn’t seem to notice.

“You can’t get rid of them,” he continued, “They’re just always there, so you’ll be okay,” Cyrus sat back, seemingly satisfied with another friend helped.

TJ continued to stare before hesitantly joining Cyrus facing the television.

‘They’re just always there, so you’ll be okay’ 

He knew the dumb jock stereotype was fake, but that didn’t matter with how confident Cyrus was about what he said. Cyrus referenced some of the things they did together over the past year, all of which were fun memories for both of them. However, he did wish he knew why his boyfriend mentioned them, so then, he might get a little closure from this talk. But apparently, they were moving on and he had to be okay with that for now.

TJ had no idea how much popcorn was in the bowl halfway between them, but he reached for it anyway deciding that because it was his house, it would be fine to not to share, anyway. But with outstretched fingers, he was met with a sting on the back of his hand.

He yanked it back to himself. “Underdog, what the heck?” he exclaimed, massaging the reddening skin where Cyrus made contact.

“You’ve been hogging the popcorn,” complained Cyrus, pulling the bowl toward him. “I get that you like to eat your feelings, but we solved the problem, remember? Now there’s barely any left for me.” He began popping the rest of it into his mouth.

Okay. A little hurtful, but it’s been a long day and he knew where he was coming from. Maybe instead of just eating it, they could have fun while they were at it. 

He leaned across to couch propped up with is elbow and nudged Cyrus’s arm. “Hey. How about we play for it?” he whispered loudly for no reason. 

Cyrus looked down at his face held up with his hand and giggled, then he whisper yelled back, “What?”

TJ sat up and began talking at his normal volume again. “My idea is that whoever can catch the most in their mouth, one by one, by throwing it in the air, gets the rest.” he explained.

Cyrus frowned and set the bowl down next to him. “Come on, TJ. You know I don’t have the coordination for that.”

TJ chuckled. “Here” He grabbed a piece from the bowl. “All you have to do is throw, follow it with your eyes, aim your nose at it, and then tilt your head back at the last second.” 

He tossed one up and demonstrated perfectly. Cyrus shook his head in disbelief and picked a piece and held it out in front of him.

“Okay, this’ll be a practice run,” said TJ, nodding in encouragement. 

With a nod back to him, Cyrus tilted his chin up and released the kernel into the air above him. TJ watched it as expectantly as Cyrus did, forgetting that they were playing popcorn toss in his living room and not of in the midst of a championship basketball match.

The movie snack made its descent, flicking Cyrus on the forehead before rolling onto the carpet.

“Daaang,” TJ crooned, then a lightbulb flicked in his head. “Wait, let’s try it this way.” 

TJ jumped up to grab the bowl from the table again. Once he and Cyrus were in agreement, he counted backwards from three and launched the piece across the couch at his boyfriend’s face where it smacked him in the forehead again and rolled onto the floor a few feet from the first piece. 

The moment eye contact hit, the boys doubled over into laughter.

After a few moments like this, Cyrus attempted to regain his breath. “Y-your aim was totally off!” 

TJ gaped, still in hysterics. “Me? I’m captain of the basketball team remember? That was all you!” 

“You were the captain of the basketball team, Kippen.” Cyrus shot back. “And with what I’m seeing today, you seem to be a little rusty.”

TJ shook his head in playful disbelief an flicked another piece at him, this time not aiming anywhere. This prompted Cyrus to join in, too, and the boys chucked popcorn at each other from opposite ends of the couch like they were in fortresses. 

Was this what Cyrus meant? The weird, stupid games they made up, their deep talks, and the fact that they were dating the first place were parts of their relationship that new experiences wouldn’t replace. TJ wouldn’t just change out of nowhere, and he would be okay. 

The popcorn was scattered throughout the living room carpet, and there was even a kernel lodged in TJ’s thickly gelled hair. Cyrus laughed as TJ ducked so he could pluck it out.

As he sat back up again, he noticed how peaceful the night was outside through the windows. Cyrus sat quietly tracing the lining of the couch with a sense of contentment before he turned and saw TJ with big smile on his face. He must have been a little confused. 

Suddenly, there was a knocking noise from all the way across the room behind him. It wouldn’t have been his parents because they would’ve just let themselves in, and none of his other friends had texted him about coming over. 

He got up from his comfortable position and reluctantly took another look at Cyrus before walking to the door. It was subtle, but he could’ve sworn Cyrus had a twinge of amusement in his eyes.

TJ let the night air in, and Iris stared up at him with her wide eyes holding his Jefferson Basketball sweatshirt crumpled in her hands.

“I’m sorry for what I said. It was stupid of me to put all of that gossip in your head and I should’ve been encouraging you instead of putting you down that way.” 

The harsh porch light bore down on her and breezes blew strands of hair over her face. 

“You should come in,” insisted TJ, gesturing behind him. He was worried she might’ve been cold despite the fact that it was summer. 

She chuckled, “No, it’s okay. Me and Amber have a dinner reservation to get to after this.” A car was waiting on the sidewalk with its ignition on that TJ hadn’t noticed before. “You were so kind and welcoming to me at the yogurt place, inviting me to eat with you even though you knew I was Cyrus’s ex,” she explained. “You seem like such a great friend, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She thrusted the sweatshirt toward him. “--and here. You forgot it on the seat.”

She was right. He didn’t even notice it was gone, and that also meant that now she knew the truth about him. It didn’t matter too much to him anymore, though.

He took it from her and handed it to Cyrus behind him. “Iris, thank you for coming. But I’m the one who should be apologizing. I never should have said those things,” he admitted. He thought about what just happened with Cyrus. “And yeah, I am okay. I was going through some stuff, but Cyrus helped me out.” 

They both peered into the living room where Cyrus was listening in and already drowning in TJ’s sweatshirt. 

“Hey, Cyrus!” Iris called.

Cyrus raised a baggy arm. “What up, girl?”

The three of them giggled and TJ turned back to Iris. “So, Lemon Berry again next week?”

He loved the small group the three of them had formed, even if it was just for a little bit. The way they clicked earlier, he knew they just had to be friends. 

She grinned back at him. “Definitely. I already have an idea for my frozen yogurt in mind.”

Amber sounded one long honk from the driver’s seat, causing Iris to roll her eyes in amusement. 

“Well, I should probably go.” She adjusted her shoulder bag and waved at Cyrus one last time. “Have a good movie night, guys!”

TJ and Cyrus waved their goodbyes as she trotted down the path to the car. After he shut the door, TJ turned to follow Cyrus back to the couch who was definitely walking in a giddier manner than usual.

“You told her we were gonna be here tonight, didn’t you?’

The younger spun around to face him. 

“I may have let it slip,” Cyrus admitted with a confident head waggle.

TJ chuckled. “You know, it’s weird, but I actually really like your meddling.”

“Well, my methods are tried and true,” he said lightly punching TJ’s arm. “Creating fast friends since 2005.”

Cyrus looked so pleased with himself. He just did what he did best, which bringing positivity and light to everyone around him and being satisfied when people were happy and getting along. Before he knew it, TJ was pulling away from his first kiss, he and Cyrus’s first kiss together, letting his rush of emotions settle down while Cyrus peered at him almost curiously.

“So that’s what it feels like,” breathed Cyrus.

TJ let his mouth hang open for a few moments before remembering he was in his own living room with the bright ceiling lights catching everything around him.

He nodded his head at the television and chuckled, “I guess we should pick something, then.”

After TJ draped his arm around Cyrus’s shoulder, Cyrus eagerly did the same with the droopy sweatshirt sleeve. They walked back to the television more in sync than ever.


End file.
